Uzbekistan

The Uzbek Period

By 1510 the Uzbeks had completed their conquest of Central Asia,
including the territory of the present-day Uzbekistan. Of the states they
established, the most powerful, the Khanate of Bukhoro, centered on the
city of Bukhoro. The khanate controlled Mawarannahr, especially the region
of Tashkent, the Fergana Valley in the east, and northern Afghanistan. A
second Uzbek state was established in the oasis of Khorazm at the mouth of
the Amu Darya. The Khanate of Bukhoro was initially led by the energetic
Shaybanid Dynasty. The Shaybanids competed against Iran, which was led by
the Safavid Dynasty, for the rich far-eastern territory of present-day
Iran. The struggle with Iran also had a religious aspect because the
Uzbeks were Sunni (see Glossary) Muslims, and Iran was Shia (see
Glossary).

Near the end of the sixteenth century, the Uzbek states of Bukhoro and
Khorazm began to weaken because of their endless wars against each other
and the Persians and because of strong competition for the throne among
the khans in power and their heirs. At the beginning of the seventeenth
century, the Shaybanid Dynasty was replaced by the Janid Dynasty.

Another factor contributing to the weakness of the Uzbek khanates in
this period was the general decline of trade moving through the region.
This change had begun in the previous century when ocean trade routes were
established from Europe to India and China, circumventing the Silk Route.
As European-dominated ocean transport expanded and some trading centers
were destroyed, cities such as Bukhoro, Merv, and Samarqand in the Khanate
of Bukhoro and Khiva and Urganch (Urgench) in Khorazm began to steadily
decline.

The Uzbeks' struggle with Iran also led to the cultural isolation of
Central Asia from the rest of the Islamic world. In addition to these
problems, the struggle with the nomads from the northern steppe continued.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Kazak nomads and Mongols
continually raided the Uzbek khanates, causing widespread damage and
disruption. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Khanate of
Bukhoro lost the fertile Fergana region, and a new Uzbek khanate was
formed in Quqon.